button in SafariRyuta Nakai Leads the Way as WSOP Main Event Returns with a Bang
Wherever you play your poker, and however seriously you take it, the answer tends to be the same. From high-stakes regulars with hoods up and headphones in, to recreational players enjoying a few beers at a home game, ask anyone in the room to name poker’s pinnacle, and they’ll likely point to one thing: winning the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event and becoming world champion.
That simple fact is what brings a swarm of poker’s crushers, up-and-comers, and fairytale dreamers to the Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas each year, each embarking on their own journey in pursuit of poker immortality and the chance to join the legends whose championship banners hang proudly from the Horseshoe rafters.
The opening flight of Event #82: $10,000 WSOP Main Event NLH World Championship saw 772 hopefuls enter the fray, and with ten hours of play in the books, 543 of those showed their tournament stamina to bag chips and move on to Day 2.
Leading from the front, Ryuta Nakai was a mainstay at the top of the leaderboard throughout the day. His day centred around winning a lot of pots frequently, with a relentless aggressive style. The Japanese pro already has a third-place finish in this year's WSOP, falling just shy of a bracelet in the $25,000 Heads-Up Championship.
Closest to the chip leader, Igor Pansovoi scored a late-night pot to move him up the leaderboard, bagging 300,300, while Gregory Sly makes it an international affair on the podium, having ended the day with 254,500.
Main Event Day 1a - Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ryuta Nakai | Japan | 323,000 | 404 |
| 2 | Igor Pansovoi | United States | 300,300 | 379 |
| 3 | Gregory Sly | Australia | 254,500 | 318 |
| 4 | Arie Kliper | Israel | 254,100 | 318 |
| 5 | Go Kato | United States | 245,700 | 307 |
| 6 | Domenico Gala | Italy | 241,000 | 301 |
| 7 | Richard Rohr | United States | 229,100 | 286 |
| 8 | Masato Yokosawa | Japan | 221,800 | 277 |
| 9 | Earl Goodman | United States | 221,600 | 277 |
| 10 | Matthew Russell | United States | 217,300 | 272 |
Plenty of poker's elite turned out for the first of four starting flights, and there is no shortage of firepower further down the leaderboard. Former Main Event champions Joe Cada (133,600), Greg Merson (81,200), Daniel Weinman (79,300), Phil Hellmuth (66,000), and Damian Salas (54,900) all punched their tickets to Day 2.
There is also 25K Fantasy Draft picks and bracelet winners galore, as Tyler Phillips (204,500), Scott Seiver (177,300), Dimitar Danchev (175,200), Qiang Xu (152,300), Sam Soverel (112,600 ), Jeremy Ausmus (109,300), Andrew Lichtenberger (94,700), Erik Seidel (86,400), Stephen Chidwick (83,400), Greg Merson (81,200), Zdenek Zizka (78,000), Brandon Wilson (64,500), and Jason Koon (18,700) are all still in the mix.
Another who opted to play the first starting flight was 2006 Poker Hall of Fame inductee, Billy Baxter. Baxter spent the day regaling tales of World Series’ past, and was still in the field come day's end, having bagged 19,800.
“The main change is the amount of players. Now, no matter who you are, it’s ten days; it’s very gruelling to get through that. You need to play really good, [and be] really lucky. You need a little bit of both", Baxter told PokerNews.
Remarkably, Baxter chose not to play the Main Event for his first 22 years in Las Vegas.
“I came here in 1975; I never played the main event until 1997. When I first came out here, I was really a lowball player. The main game I played every day was no-limit 2-7. That year [1997] I staked Stu Ungar, and he talked me into playing it.”
Baxter was all too happy to share the words Ungar said to convince him to play.
“Come on, you should play it [the main event]. I’m going to win it anyway, so it ain’t gonna cost you nothing.”
“And sure enough, he did win it”
Baxter is now a regular entry into the event, and it will stay that way until the very end, and he will continue to tell and retell his crazy stories.
“I like to play, and I’ve played a lot since then, and I enjoy it. I’m a little too old for these hours, but I still like to try. I guess until they put me in that box, I’m going to keep playing. I enjoy it [telling those stories]... It was the Wild West back then."
He closed out with one piece of advice for those playing their first WSOP Main Event.
“Enjoy it, because I can tell you this: it’s going to be very difficult to get through these big fields”
Big Names, Big Hands, Big Action
The theme of the opening day was big collisions, and it took no time at all for them to begin.
In the first few hands of the day, Anthony Marini came racing out of the blocks, and, after six bets preflop, his full stack was in the middle. Unfortunately for Marini, his suited ace-king had run into the pocket aces of Ryan Sands. No miracle arrived, and Marini had the unwanted distinction of becoming the first player eliminated from the 2026 WSOP Main Event.
Shortly after, Seiver avoided the same fate, laying down pocket queens preflop correctly and avoiding disaster versus his opponent's pocket aces. Throughout the day, quads were beating full houses, and a turned royal flush even found river value. It was cold decks galore, as more players ran into aces to be eliminated.
Among those to fall foul of the deck, Jared Bleznick was two-outered, and 2025 Main Event final tablist Leo Margets ran kings into aces preflop and never managed to recover.
Players such as Seth Davies, Dan Smith, Nicholas Seward, Mike Moncek, Julien Sitbon, Chad Eveslage, David Bach, Frank Funaro Jr, and Espen Oeye all suffered the same fate, and as such, will need to wait another year for a chance at Main Event glory.
Those who were fortunate to survive the day will return for Day 2abc on Monday, July 6, at 11:00 a.m. local time. Three starting flights remain, with Day 1b the next available opportunity to jump in, and late registration remains open for the first two levels of Day 2.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team is out in full force and will be back tomorrow for more coverage of what will likely be a historic WSOP Main Event.